MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula and Peña discuss espionage case

Both leaders also exchanged invitations for reciprocal visits

Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Santiago Peña of Paraguay on Thursday discussed during the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) Summit in Buenos Aires the ongoing investigation into an intelligence operation carried out during the Jair Bolsonaro years to obtain confidential information from Paraguayan officials involved in negotiations on the binational Itaipu power plant. Both leaders also exchanged invitations for reciprocal visits.

The case involving the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) was revealed in April, shaking bilateral relations and freezing talks on Annex C of Itaipu, which deals with the value of the plant's surplus energy. Despite the crisis, Lula and Peña announced the resumption of talks on Itaipu.

“And as befits brother countries, I expressed my concern about the espionage case and requested the full cooperation of the Brazilian authorities to clarify the facts,” wrote Peña on social media after the meeting at the Brazilian Embassy before the Mercosur event.

“We also discussed the investigations into the Abin's activities in Paraguay, when we reiterated respect and dialogue as fundamental principles of the relationship between our two countries. We decided to resume the review of Annex C of the Itaipu Treaty, which establishes the conditions for sharing the surplus energy generated by the company,” Lula said in a statement.

They also discussed other items on the bilateral agenda, such as infrastructure projects to expand connectivity between the countries, including the Integration Bridge, whose access works on the Brazilian side are already almost 80% complete and should be finished in December.

Other topics included the Bioceanic Corridor, a mega infrastructure project to connect road networks linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean across the South American continent, passing through Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Chile. (Source: Agencia Brasil)